Morning MoneyBeat Asia: Russian Bear Purrs, Stock Bulls Bellow

Market Snap: At the New York close: S&P 500 up 1.5% at 1873.91. DJIA up 1.4% at 16395.88. Nasdaq Comp up 1.8% at 4351.97. Treasury yields up; 10-year at 2.691%. Nymex crude oil down 1.5% at $103.33. Gold down 0.9% at $1,337.80/ounce.

How We Got Here: Oh. Nevermind.

U.S. stocks ripped higher one day after they nose dived. Both days the proximate cause was the crisis in the Ukraine. On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave his first press conference since sending troops into Crimea. He stopped well short of banging his shoe on the table, and that was apparently enough for the market.

“What we saw on the weekend could be the first move in a very long game of chess,” wrote Scott Schuberg, the CEO of Australian securities firm Rivkin, “so I don’t think we’ll be as concerned about this being an imminent threat to markets.”

The S&P 500 hit a fresh record, as did the Russell 2000. The Nasdaq Composite hit a 14-year high (and is now only 14% off its 2000 high). The Dow is off only 1% from its record high (16576.66 on Dec. 31).

Coming Up: In addition to keeping an eye on the latest developments in Ukraine, Asian investors Wednesday will focus on Australia’s fourth-quarter 2013 GDP figures. The consensus is for 0.7% quarterly growth and 2.5% yearly growth.

Other data releases of note include China’s February services PMI and Hong Kong’s February whole economy PMI.

Moelis Files IPO PapersMoelis & Co. unveiled paperwork for its widely anticipated initial public offering, as the firm seeks to cash in on a booming stock market and the increasing share of the mergers-and-acquisitions market that it and other boutique investment banks are taking.

Apple Goes on Hiring Spree in Asia Apple is hiring hundreds of new engineers and supply-chain managers in China and Taiwan as it attempts to speed product development and introduce a wider range of devices.